Hartlepool council chiefs have ruled out putting the town forward as a place to store radioactive waste in a multi-billion pound government project. The Mail exclusively revealed on Thursday how the town had been identified as potentially suitable to build a deep underground radioactive waste storage facility due to the kind of rocks present here. Radioactive Waste Management Ltd have just started a nationwide search for a willing host site for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). It would be used to store all of the UK’s intermediate and high activity radioactive waste, which comes from the nuclear industry and other sources, for 150 years. Project leaders have written to all of the council leaders and chief executives in England and Wales including Hartlepool’s. But Hartlepool Borough Council says it has no plans to talk to them about the project. A council spokesperson said: “We have had no direct contact with the consultants about their conclusions or the implications of such a site for the people of Hartlepool. “Whilst we understand that Hartlepool could be a suitable site due to its geology, we have no intention of expressing an interest.”
Hartlepool Mail 16th March 2019 read more »